strcmp works sometime, but not always & blocks output to screen

This code is supposed to put 3 words in alphabetical order. It works fine for 5 of 6 possibilities. However, when I enter something like "rat cat dog" it doesn't (skips "rat" in Code::Blocks, no output in repl.it). Also, no cout's in the if/else structure print at all. Any ideas?

Code:

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#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    char word1[20];
    char word2[20];
    char word3[20];
    char phrase[64];

    cout << "Enter three words, pressing Enter after each.\n";
    gets(word1);
    gets(word2);
    gets(word3);

    char first[20];
    char second[20];
    char third[20];

    if (strcmp(word1, word2) > 0 && strcmp(word1, word3) > 0)
    {
        strcpy(third, word1);
        if (strcmp(word2, word3) > 0)
        {
            strcpy(second, word2);
            strcpy(first, word3);
        }
        else
        {
            strcpy(second, word3);
            strcpy(second, word2);
        }
    }
    else if (strcmp(word2, word1) > 0 && strcmp(word2, word3) > 0)
    {
        strcpy(third, word2);
        if (strcmp(word1, word3) > 0)
        {
            strcpy(second, word1);
            strcpy(first, word3);
        }
        else
        {
            strcpy(second, word3);
            strcpy(first, word1);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        strcpy(third, word3);
        if (strcmp(word1, word2) > 0)
        {
            strcpy(second, word1);
            strcpy(first, word2);
        }
        else
        {
            strcpy(second, word2);
            strcpy(first, word1);
        }
    }
    cout << "In order...\n";
    cout << first << endl
        << second << endl
        << third << endl << endl;  // puts

    return 0;
}

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Attachment 36021

gets() has been removed from the standard. use gets_s() instead. As this is C++, why not use std::string?

You have a 'typo':

Code:

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strcpy(second, word3);
strcpy(second, word2);

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Can you spot it?

Code:

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strcpy(second, word3);
strcpy(first, word2);

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The reason you're currently getting different output on different systems in that in the failure case, first doesn't have anything copied into it and hasn't been initialised. Hence cout << first will display whatever happens to be in memory at the location pointed to by first. Variables should always be initialised:

Code:

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        char word1[20] {};
        char word2[20] {};
        char word3[20] {};
        char first[20] {};
        char second[20] {};
        char third[20] {};

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